Barclays To Contest Energy Lawsuit, JPMorgan Doesn't Have To Provide Lawyer Emails

The New York Times reports that the issue stems from late October, when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission threatened to seek a $435m penalty and disgorgement of an additional $35m from Barclays over trades it made on energy prices. The potential penalty, part of a broader crackdown that includes recent cases against JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank, would be the regulator’s largest fine ever.

In the meantime, Bloomberg reports that JPMorgan Chase isn’t required to turn over portions of e-mails sought by U.S. regulators in a probe of potential energy-market manipulation after a judge said they are protected by attorney-client privilege.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson in Washington yesterday denied a request by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to force JPMorgan to provide unredacted copies of 25 e-mails. Robinson said she reviewed the documents and agreed that the redacted portions are confidential communications with JPMorgan’s lawyers.

Barclays to Contest Energy Market Manipulation Case

JPMorgan Doesn’t Have to Provide Lawyer E-Mails in Probe